Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Vashon Valkyrie II Build, Part 4, Parts



I have mentioned before, I found my three rocket binders when we were clearing out my Mom's house. All the instructions from every kit I built are there, including that first Vashon Valkyrie 2.

On the left are the instructions from the set I received from Doug Frost, on the right are my instructions. I had dated them July, 1969.



Apparently this was a different starter set distributed after July of 1969. Comparing the die-cut fin to my original instructions, the fin shape had changed.

On the left is the die-cut fin. On the right is the full size template from my original instruction sheet.
It's a swept parallelogram with clipped lower tip.

The die-cut fin reminds me a little of the Centuri Astro 1 fin shape.



Underneath is the die-cut fin so you can see the difference in the two shapes. The white paper fin was traced and cut from the older instruction sheet.

Three new fins were cut out of 1/16" stiff balsa. The Valkyrie 1 and 2 had 1/16" thick fins. While they seem thin, they feel very stiff when slid into the fin rails later on.
The box had four nose cones molded from stiff Styrofoam. The finished pieces were rough with a few dents.

My original Valkyrie had a balsa nose cone. I knew the Vashon body was 1" diameter. I tried a nose cone from an Odd'l Rockets Break-away kit - a perfect fit! Many Odd'l kits use heavy wall tubing, the wider n.c. shoulder works with the heavy Kraft tube in the Vashon model. On the right is the balsa cone in the printed Kraft tube.
The original kit had an aluminum parachute tube. I will try to simulate the aluminum tube if I can't find one.

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